Tell him to buy Tom Petty's greatest hits and play to it for 6 months if then he has not got the groove he ain't gonna get it ..... :)

Or,some Steve Jordan/Steve Gadd video's......

Heck,any vids with a drummer named Steve! (Gorman/Smith/White)

Tough question! In order to groove, you have to love the groove...feel the groove and most of all want to play the groove...and even then, most guys still can't play it. Being a groove drummer is all about being unselfish & wanting to make the band sound good, it's not about you, it's about the band. It's about listening to the guys you play with & accenting what they do. When you can do that, you can be a groove drummer. That's why so many young guys that start off in Metal never get it...it's all about being selfishly unselfish.

Funny thing is I have told him this already because I was told the same thing by another great drummer!

He's listening to the wrong music/drummers. Garbage in, garbage out. Quality in, quality out.

Knowing where the pocket is, and how to exploit it/feed it, in any given piece of music only comes from experience. It comes from playing a lot of different styles of music with a lot of different musicians over a long period of time. Knowing what the groove is asking for and then being able to execute it, is what separates the men from from the goats in drum-land.

We all get our sense of groove based on what we feed our heads and ears. Individual style has a heap to do with it too. I've been playing for 50 years and it's only the last several years that I feel like I understand 'a few things' about 'the groove.' This is a young guy you're talking about and as long as he continues to play, (hopefully with many different bands and musicians,) five or ten years down the road, he'll be able to school you on how to groove.

All 'good things' come with time and determined hard work. Soap Box

John

Groove is learnt by learning how to feel the music. Feel is what it's all about. And yes; if in doubt, underplay.

no it has to be felt its like nirvana

To answer the question ... no, groove cannot be taught. It can, however be demonstrated and observered. Music is math. Groove is emotion and feel. You can teach a monkey to play music. You would have a very difficult time trying to impart groove to another musician. I'm on my 47th year behind the kit and I'm still exploring it. The drummer that wears the Groove Master moniker is a liar and an uncontroled ego. No one masters groove any more than a man can fully master his own tongue. You will say the wrong thing ... most likely several times a day.

thats pretty much on the mark Roger, there have been moments, ive been in the grove but far and few between the difference between a learned musician and a ear player, to have both is often contradictory as 1/4 notes can be played but they are harder to express , to play with emotion is the best you can be as there are planes you cannot reach from ordinary study, as so with all the historic great musicians the difference between average and lets say hmmm

can we name a few ?we can go back century's there always a few through time that have achieved greatness that no others could transgress, to do it all the time takes a person in another frame(or dimension) of mind than most, dont get me wrong you still need a skill level to get there keep trying when it does happen record it so you can here the difference...